Post by shizoo on Jun 17, 2013 2:24:00 GMT 1
History:
At first, it was just a junkyard like any other. At one point it used to be a building site for a government project which ran out of money halfway through. No one even remembers what the building was supposed to be & over the years grass, trees & weeds took over the oldest of the partially built structures. Eventually, it was sold to a building company who began to use it as a place to dump unwanted & unneeded construction materials, like old wooden crates, tires, pipes & bits & pieces of old projects. Then this company too disappeared & gradually a large ever-changing population of feral cats took up residence, rearranging & setting up lovely dens. No one is sure who actually owns the site now.
At this point it still wasn't what you'd call a 'community' until a very special cat was born into the nearby Vicarage. In his youth, Deuteronomy began to run with the feral cats there enjoying himself hugely. Over the years, this charismatic cat, began forming a loose 'family' made up of friends, like Gus, the theatre cat, who introduced him to others, & later brought Lady Jellylorum with him when he retired to the yard. Through his wanderings he met many wonderful cats including his first mate, Macavity's mother. When his mate became pregnant, it became almost a signal for many of them to settle down in the area to raise families, & the rudiments of the Junkyard tribe was born.
The area wasn't completely safe from predators-both two-legged & four-legged. Feral pollicles, humans & stray cats were all a danger to the weakest members of the tribe-especially the kittens & the elderly. A council was formed & Deuteronomy was voted in as leader-actually he was the only choice everyone agreed with. Special jobs began to form-including hunters, foragers, healers & protectors. These jobs were assumed by the best ones for those jobs. rules were laid out that anyone might apply for a specific position, but they must demonstrate either proficiency for the task or agree to train with an older cat until they are deemed proficient enough to assume such a great responsibility.At first it was rather idyllic & the tribe thrived. Everyone worked as a whole for the benefit of the community.
Then during a particularly thunderous storm, Macavity was born. His birth seemed to presage a difficult time for the tribe. First his mother died from complications of his birth, then food became scarce from a combination of factors-including chemical pollutants dumped by careless humans. Many of the youngest, oldest & weakest members of the tribe died. Through it all, Deuteronomy did his best to stay a strong bulwark against tragedy. Using his teachings, wisdom & sheer stubborn will & charisma, he pulled the Junkyard tribe through, but nothing was the same again. For the first time, rumblings against Deuteronomy were heard in secret corners, & some cats quietly left. No one dared to challenge Deuteronomy openly, however, as most still believed in him & his leadership. Despite the troubles, soon things got better & the tribe became one of the largest most powerful bases of catkind in Britain.
A few years later after Deuteronomy mated again & his sons, Mukustrap & Rum Tum Tugger were born, a large ambitious male named, Stryker came to the yard. A former stray, he sized up the yarders looking for weaknesses. His eyes lighted on Macavity, already a young malcontent, who despite the best efforts of his brothers & father, felt alone & alienated from everyone. Young, handsome, charismatic & the eldest son of the leader, Stryker saw him as a perfect conduit for his ambitions. Stryker played on Macavity's discontent, stirring up his hatred for humans & built them up until Macavity was a seething cauldron of rage. Then he made a fatal mistake. Stryker decided to use his little puppet & figured on controlling the young teen with sex. He didn't count on Macavity's strong will or the fact that the young male had figured out his scheme. He was actually counting on Stryker making a move such as this & killed the older male-while 'protecting' himself so no blame would fall upon him. So well did this work, that for a time, Macavity found himself the center of concerned attention. Everyone put up with his dark moods & anger as just symptoms from the trauma he'd been put through. This seriously annoyed him.
Despite his father's belief, Macavity had never thought of himself as a sociopath, he did care about others very deeply, but he knew his ways were not his father's ways. In Macavity's mind a seed had been planted; despite his weaknesses & idiocy, Macavity determined that Stryker had been right about one thing. Cat's would never regain their rightful place until they wrested it back from the walking monkeys. Human's & their careless profligate ways had killed far too many-even his own mother, & Macavity firmly believed the world would be a much better place with cats in charge. Look at how far Egypt had gone until they lost their way & stopped worshiping the true gods, like Bast.
Macavity also felt his father was far too soft & under his leadership, the humans & their tools, the pollicles, would always get away with their crimes against cathood. Strong leadership was obviously needed. He began to bide his time searching for a base of operation. In the meantime, he began to cultivate cats who were 'pets' in the homes of wealthy or influential humans.
Then one day he came across an abandoned warehouse. Owned by the same company that had owned the junkyard, but had since gone out of business, it was perfect for his needs. Using some of the contacts he had established, & with the advent of the computer age, he was able to start an online 'business' which soon grew & diversified, branching into both legal & illegal activities. Soon he had a financial empire that rivaled any of the blue bloods, but although he has tried many times, he was still unable to break the 'Aristocratic wall' into the powerful world of European politics. No one really remembers when his empire got the nickname 'Hidden Paw', but Macavity liked it for the image it evoked for him. Other cats who shared his vision or who simply didn't fit in anywhere else, began to join him. He accepted them all on one condition, they had to swear a loyalty oath to him & any open insurrection or insubordination was dealt with very harshly. Logically, he knew many of these cats were outcasts with unsavory habits, but as long as they didn't break His rules, & their poor behavior wasn't brought 'officially' to Macavity's attention, he turned a blind eye to many of those activities.
The young rebel soon realized two things, one, he was going to need more than one life to accomplish his goals, & two, that his father would never go along with his plans to overthrow the humans so he began to plot on a way to remove his father & assume leadership of the tribe & incidentally-their abundant resources. Realizing his numbers were too few for an open conflict, he began to plan a quiet coup de grace, wherein he & a select few would quietly remove his father to the warehouse, & put the word out that he had taken seriously ill. Later when Deuteronomy had agreed to give Macavity the Jellicle choice, he would suffer a quiet 'heart attack' in his sleep, & then, in their grief, the tribe would naturally turn to Deuteronomy's eldest son, especially where Munkustrap & Rum Tum Tugger were still too young. The plan couldn't fail.
Unfortunately, he hadn't reckoned on the curiosity of young cats. Demeter had noticed that Macavity disappeared often. She'd overheard the elder cats discussing what had happened with Stryker, & she became worried about him. So she began following him trying to find out what he did all day. Her imagination had never encompassed what was really going on though! She managed to slip into the warehouse, especially where in his arrogance, Macavity never dreamed anyone would dare to spy on Him. Literally the day before the plan was to be enacted, she listened to a private meeting detailing the entire insurection! Horrified, she fled the warehouse & went straight to the sentinel at the time, a crony of Deuteronomy's & told him everything.
He was a grizzled old veteran of the streets, & he listened without comment. He realized there was another major problem to contend with, while he believed her, he knew others wouldn't turn against the son of the leader-not without proof. Even old Deuteronomy might have trouble believing his son capable of such treachery. So the wily old cat set up a trap instead, making sure Deuteronomy & all the elders of the tribe would be present to see it first hand. It happened just as he'd foreseen & Macavity was caught red-handed. Then he had Demeter step forward to tell them all what she'd witnessed. The entire tribe swayed in shock at the near disaster, & Macavity was expelled from the tribe. The first one to ever have been banished from the Junkyard. Coldly, Macavity swore revenge on both the sentinel & Demeter for exposing him, but he went. A few years later, the sentinel died under mysterious circumstances, terrifying Demeter, but most never believed Macavity was responsible as he'd been elsewhere at the time. Common perception was he'd gone to lick his wounds, but others in the tribe know better & quietly prepare for whatever he may do next.
At first, it was just a junkyard like any other. At one point it used to be a building site for a government project which ran out of money halfway through. No one even remembers what the building was supposed to be & over the years grass, trees & weeds took over the oldest of the partially built structures. Eventually, it was sold to a building company who began to use it as a place to dump unwanted & unneeded construction materials, like old wooden crates, tires, pipes & bits & pieces of old projects. Then this company too disappeared & gradually a large ever-changing population of feral cats took up residence, rearranging & setting up lovely dens. No one is sure who actually owns the site now.
At this point it still wasn't what you'd call a 'community' until a very special cat was born into the nearby Vicarage. In his youth, Deuteronomy began to run with the feral cats there enjoying himself hugely. Over the years, this charismatic cat, began forming a loose 'family' made up of friends, like Gus, the theatre cat, who introduced him to others, & later brought Lady Jellylorum with him when he retired to the yard. Through his wanderings he met many wonderful cats including his first mate, Macavity's mother. When his mate became pregnant, it became almost a signal for many of them to settle down in the area to raise families, & the rudiments of the Junkyard tribe was born.
The area wasn't completely safe from predators-both two-legged & four-legged. Feral pollicles, humans & stray cats were all a danger to the weakest members of the tribe-especially the kittens & the elderly. A council was formed & Deuteronomy was voted in as leader-actually he was the only choice everyone agreed with. Special jobs began to form-including hunters, foragers, healers & protectors. These jobs were assumed by the best ones for those jobs. rules were laid out that anyone might apply for a specific position, but they must demonstrate either proficiency for the task or agree to train with an older cat until they are deemed proficient enough to assume such a great responsibility.At first it was rather idyllic & the tribe thrived. Everyone worked as a whole for the benefit of the community.
Then during a particularly thunderous storm, Macavity was born. His birth seemed to presage a difficult time for the tribe. First his mother died from complications of his birth, then food became scarce from a combination of factors-including chemical pollutants dumped by careless humans. Many of the youngest, oldest & weakest members of the tribe died. Through it all, Deuteronomy did his best to stay a strong bulwark against tragedy. Using his teachings, wisdom & sheer stubborn will & charisma, he pulled the Junkyard tribe through, but nothing was the same again. For the first time, rumblings against Deuteronomy were heard in secret corners, & some cats quietly left. No one dared to challenge Deuteronomy openly, however, as most still believed in him & his leadership. Despite the troubles, soon things got better & the tribe became one of the largest most powerful bases of catkind in Britain.
A few years later after Deuteronomy mated again & his sons, Mukustrap & Rum Tum Tugger were born, a large ambitious male named, Stryker came to the yard. A former stray, he sized up the yarders looking for weaknesses. His eyes lighted on Macavity, already a young malcontent, who despite the best efforts of his brothers & father, felt alone & alienated from everyone. Young, handsome, charismatic & the eldest son of the leader, Stryker saw him as a perfect conduit for his ambitions. Stryker played on Macavity's discontent, stirring up his hatred for humans & built them up until Macavity was a seething cauldron of rage. Then he made a fatal mistake. Stryker decided to use his little puppet & figured on controlling the young teen with sex. He didn't count on Macavity's strong will or the fact that the young male had figured out his scheme. He was actually counting on Stryker making a move such as this & killed the older male-while 'protecting' himself so no blame would fall upon him. So well did this work, that for a time, Macavity found himself the center of concerned attention. Everyone put up with his dark moods & anger as just symptoms from the trauma he'd been put through. This seriously annoyed him.
Despite his father's belief, Macavity had never thought of himself as a sociopath, he did care about others very deeply, but he knew his ways were not his father's ways. In Macavity's mind a seed had been planted; despite his weaknesses & idiocy, Macavity determined that Stryker had been right about one thing. Cat's would never regain their rightful place until they wrested it back from the walking monkeys. Human's & their careless profligate ways had killed far too many-even his own mother, & Macavity firmly believed the world would be a much better place with cats in charge. Look at how far Egypt had gone until they lost their way & stopped worshiping the true gods, like Bast.
Macavity also felt his father was far too soft & under his leadership, the humans & their tools, the pollicles, would always get away with their crimes against cathood. Strong leadership was obviously needed. He began to bide his time searching for a base of operation. In the meantime, he began to cultivate cats who were 'pets' in the homes of wealthy or influential humans.
Then one day he came across an abandoned warehouse. Owned by the same company that had owned the junkyard, but had since gone out of business, it was perfect for his needs. Using some of the contacts he had established, & with the advent of the computer age, he was able to start an online 'business' which soon grew & diversified, branching into both legal & illegal activities. Soon he had a financial empire that rivaled any of the blue bloods, but although he has tried many times, he was still unable to break the 'Aristocratic wall' into the powerful world of European politics. No one really remembers when his empire got the nickname 'Hidden Paw', but Macavity liked it for the image it evoked for him. Other cats who shared his vision or who simply didn't fit in anywhere else, began to join him. He accepted them all on one condition, they had to swear a loyalty oath to him & any open insurrection or insubordination was dealt with very harshly. Logically, he knew many of these cats were outcasts with unsavory habits, but as long as they didn't break His rules, & their poor behavior wasn't brought 'officially' to Macavity's attention, he turned a blind eye to many of those activities.
The young rebel soon realized two things, one, he was going to need more than one life to accomplish his goals, & two, that his father would never go along with his plans to overthrow the humans so he began to plot on a way to remove his father & assume leadership of the tribe & incidentally-their abundant resources. Realizing his numbers were too few for an open conflict, he began to plan a quiet coup de grace, wherein he & a select few would quietly remove his father to the warehouse, & put the word out that he had taken seriously ill. Later when Deuteronomy had agreed to give Macavity the Jellicle choice, he would suffer a quiet 'heart attack' in his sleep, & then, in their grief, the tribe would naturally turn to Deuteronomy's eldest son, especially where Munkustrap & Rum Tum Tugger were still too young. The plan couldn't fail.
Unfortunately, he hadn't reckoned on the curiosity of young cats. Demeter had noticed that Macavity disappeared often. She'd overheard the elder cats discussing what had happened with Stryker, & she became worried about him. So she began following him trying to find out what he did all day. Her imagination had never encompassed what was really going on though! She managed to slip into the warehouse, especially where in his arrogance, Macavity never dreamed anyone would dare to spy on Him. Literally the day before the plan was to be enacted, she listened to a private meeting detailing the entire insurection! Horrified, she fled the warehouse & went straight to the sentinel at the time, a crony of Deuteronomy's & told him everything.
He was a grizzled old veteran of the streets, & he listened without comment. He realized there was another major problem to contend with, while he believed her, he knew others wouldn't turn against the son of the leader-not without proof. Even old Deuteronomy might have trouble believing his son capable of such treachery. So the wily old cat set up a trap instead, making sure Deuteronomy & all the elders of the tribe would be present to see it first hand. It happened just as he'd foreseen & Macavity was caught red-handed. Then he had Demeter step forward to tell them all what she'd witnessed. The entire tribe swayed in shock at the near disaster, & Macavity was expelled from the tribe. The first one to ever have been banished from the Junkyard. Coldly, Macavity swore revenge on both the sentinel & Demeter for exposing him, but he went. A few years later, the sentinel died under mysterious circumstances, terrifying Demeter, but most never believed Macavity was responsible as he'd been elsewhere at the time. Common perception was he'd gone to lick his wounds, but others in the tribe know better & quietly prepare for whatever he may do next.
